Leading a Horse to Water.

Growing up my parents had many sayings:

"Do you want your face to stay like that?"

"It only hurts for a little while"

The infamous: "If they were jumping off a bridge would you do that too?" -- sorry to say that I did indeed jump off of bridges, rooftops, garages and out of trees which leads to wonder why I never heard: "There is something not right about that one" from my Father.

Speaking of my Father he has to be one of the best, yet still undiscovered, sayings creator in history.  I'll never forget the gems my Father came up with when he would get angry while working in the garage on one of our cars.  If things went awry he would shout out things like:

"Cheese and crackers!"

"Son of a pup!" - I didn't get this one until I was much older and I still don't get the whole cheese and crackers thing - although I do like cheese and crackers to this day. I wonder if that is some type of psychological thing?

You see my Father worked on vehicles in the Korean war.  He is an electrical engineer by education and a purchasing manager by occupation - retired now - thank you very much.  I know first hand how working on vehicles and being a purchasing manager can drive you a bit batty because I have been there. No, I have never muttered "Cheese and crackers" of course, unless there were a bottle of wine near by.

One of their best sayings and one said by many over the years is "You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink." I often think about where I would be today if someone actually told me things straight out instead of in rhyme.  Just tell me that you can show people what they should do but only they can choose to do it or not. Is that so hard?  So that was me growing up amongst all of these life lessons hidden within speech.  It leads me to my topic today: "You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink."

Take Toolinghouse.com for example.  Come on, you knew this was leading to commercial. Did you think you would get all of this wonderful stuff to read without hearing a pitch or two? Toolinghouse competes with the big boys of the online world - you know who they are so I don't have to mention them.  If you were to compare our prices against their prices I can tell you that Toolinghouse is 25-55% lower on almost everything we sell.  I have introduced many end users of cutting tools to toolinghouse.com.  Many have ordered from me over the years and continue to do so today.  I cherish my customers as I know they are my corporate lifeline. What makes me wonder though are the others whom I have introduced Toolinghouse.com to but who have never ordered a thing from me and worse yet, continue to buy from that 3-letter company.  It is ultimately the buyers choice but coming from a purchasing background like I do, I cannot resist wondering why they choose to spend more for the same things they can get from me much cheaper?  "Well, I need it here tomorrow" and I reply with "so order it from me today and you will have it tomorrow." Most of our items can ship same day just like the 3-letter company. Now, for those of you who do not know, Toolinghouse is not some multi-billion dollar company with warehouses all over the land.  Kudos to the big boys for having so many brick and mortar locations.  This overhead of theirs is passed on to you the customer in higher tooling costs.  That's it. I have much lower overhead and therefore much lower prices.  The drawback, and I hope you find my honesty refreshing, is that all of our orders ship out of Michigan.  I'm not selling gasoline and I do not have a location on every street corner - nor do I have the high prices associated with that type of infrastructure.  That's how I can sell you "Great Tools - at Great Prices."

In today's market there are many goofballs (that's the technical term for it) running around out there telling you anything you want to hear to try and make a sale.  It is tough out there these days but I do not believe in deception as a sales technique.  Those of you who know me know that I am a straight up kind of guy, I don't - hey, I just remembered another parent saying, worse yet it came to mind just now and it applies - "Pull the wool over your eyes." Yikes, that stuff is still up in my head.  Probably because I am still trying to figure out what half of it means - 40 some years later.

Look, I know you have choices when it comes to making your cutting tool decisions.  All I ask for is an opportunity to quote your cutting tool needs.  All I can do is show you how I can save you money and provide you with quality US Made Cutting Tools at affordable prices. That's the sales pitch - not much to it I know but it is the truth and that is the best kind of water to be led to isn't it?  Call me today and let's talk. Toll Free: 1-866-583-TOOL. Or log onto www.toolinghouse.com and check us out. 

The bottom line is that good 'ol Mom and Dad were right about most things, confusing and twisted in their method of getting it across to me, but right none the less. They taught me some important lessons.  They confused the heck out of me and they have instilled some of the silliest yet pertinent sayings into this head of mine - even if I have only deciphered 50% of them so far.

The Wonderment of Youth

I had a 9:12 tee time this morning but a rain shower has pushed my time back to 12:16. So that gives me some time to sit here at my iMac and write. When I woke up this morning, it was already raining. I made my coffee as I usually do and I took it along with a blueberry muffin out onto my screened in porch to sit and watch the rain. Actually, I really like rainy days except for when they kill tee times.

While sitting and watching the rain fall I saw a mother deer and her fawn run past my driveway and onto my neighbors property. Great thing these fawns are as they sleep during the day either under some of my trees or my neighbors and the mother sleeps in the woods behind my house. Why they separate like this during the day I do not know but they do.

Today, the mother walked and the fawns bounded around and along side of her. If you have read my blogs you probably know that I have a 2 year old daughter. I had mentioned this before when I warned the world that I reproduce every 14 years. You know what is really great about kids? The innocence and the wonderment of everything they do. They do not know anything. They do not know to be afraid. They do not judge people on looks. I can carry an extra few pounds around the middle and she doesn't care one single bit.

It's funny how those fawns were bounding and bouncing around their mother this morning. Ironically enough my daughter does the same thing. Anytime she wants to go somewhere she runs. Time for lunch and she runs to the table. Time to go outside and play and she runs to the back door. Time to brush her teeth and she runs the other way. The joy of life in her is one of the things I love so much. She is just amazing because she is just happy to be. To be what? It doesn't matter. Just to be is enough for a child as they can find pleasure and happiness in anything.

There is absolutely no greater feeling on Mother Earth for me then walking in the back door from the garage to see my little girl running just as fast as her little legs will take her, down the hallway, past the kitchen towards the back door where "Dada" has just come in. The exuberance in her actions as those little legs try to run 90 mph just to get to see me faster. What an amazing feeling that is for me. She runs so fast that her hair blows back and she almost loses her balance.

We, as adults should take this approach to life. At least, if it does nothing else, it would help some of us tone up a bit. After all, when was the last time you ran to your car just because you were so excited to take a drive to the post office? When was the last time you ran as fast as you could to catch a big yellow rubber ball you had just kicked across the lawn? I admit some strange and personal things on this blog and this will be right in line with those other confessions. I've run around on the inside of my house chasing my daughter and playing as she plays and it is not easy to keep up. I run to a lot of places now. I sprint to the car in the garage. If I am going to water the trees in the back, I run to the faucet. My 2 year old giggles at me and that is why I do it. But what a great change of pace for me. She and I will run around the yard. Instead of taking long strides I take what seems to be about two trillion tiny steps to get where I am going. Just like she does.

I hope she will always feel that exuberance when I come home and when she sees me for the first time on any given day. Right now, is very special and I am old enough to know it. The sheer magic that "Dada" holds right now is fleeting. There will come a time when she will question everything I say and I look forward to her doing it. But right now, I am reveling in what can only be called one of the best times of a Fathers life. Sure, those little legs that try so hard just to get to the back door a little faster will slow down. The excitement will fade in the legs but I hope that, if I do my job right, the excitement will never fade in her spirit or her desire to see Dada.

Maybe one day she will call me "Father" or "Dad" and maybe even in quite or silly times between us I will be the "old man". I'm not sure but I do know that even though Dada by name may fade, Dada by spirit in me, never will.

Keep jumping - keep leaping. We need more of that in this world.

New Blogs Started

Well the “trinkets” blog has gone in many different directions as I thought it would. This is not a bad thing but it has made me re-think the blog. I’ve decided to allow myself (and you) to continue to go in any direction on this “trinkets” blog. However, I want forums to seriously discuss cutting tools. Therefore I have created www.carbideendmills.blogspot.com to discuss carbide end mills. I also started www.holemaking.blogspot.com for the discussion of drills, reamers and deburring tools. These two blogs will be used for on-topic discussion and the “trinkets” blog will be used for miscellaneous topics.

Thanks for reading the blog and please feel free to contribute.

When is enough, enough?

Gas prices topped $4.00 a gallon here today in Howell Township, Michigan. This is getting a bit sick and it is and will continue to devastate this wonderful country of ours. It would be one thing if the big oil companies were barely squeaking by and making modest profits. I don't have any problem whatsoever with a "for profit company" making a modest profit. After all, that is what it is all about. I do take issue with these companies making record profits, quarter after quarter, while we, the American People suffer trying to fill our tanks. The government was supposed to stop monopolies and protect us consumers yet here we see the largest of all monopolies helping to crush the American Economy. I said "helping" since they are not the only issue we have here that is devastating our economy. I'm going to address the biggest crusher here too and that is the "Global Economy" that some Einstein thought of years ago. All the global economy has done is lifted Asian Countries and deflated Western ones. I wonder how long it will be until we can't afford to commute to work any longer and we'll just live in small huts on the back parking lot of our employers - wait that sounds like China. Maybe this idea of globalizing economies does work. We will soon be just like China. More about that later.

I've heard people suggest that since we have President Bush in office and since he is from Texas and since Texas is about oil there may be a connection to him being in the White House and us paying these high prices for gas. One big clue to the answer may be found in profits for these oil refineries and their sister companies. Big profits, like the billions they are showing every quarter, could, COULD mean that some shady things are being done by some shady people. Greed can be very tempting as I know people who have been consumed by it.

So we've spent Billions of dollars or is it Trillions now on this "war" with Iraq. We tossed away the lives of thousands of our young people who have had no chance to live the American dream as they were killed trying to defend it. This war has begged the question since it began of "why and is it worth it". I supported Bush and his notion of us having to defend against the terrorists and the "evil-doers". I even supported us going to war as I trusted our government to do the right thing. Now, I believe that label of "evil-doer" may apply to what we need to protect ourselves against right here on our own land. There is a lot we could get into here and you are welcome to chime in but all I will say for now is that I feel that the leaders of this country misled me and the American People when they took us to war in Iraq. The whole driving force on this war was to find and destroy all of these weapons of mass destruction that Hussein had, yet an investigating team didn't find a single one. Perhaps Benedict Arnold would have been proud of this deception.

I come from the heritage of a long line of men who fought to protect this country. My Grandfather fought overseas in WWI. His son, my Uncle fought in WWII and was one of the translators during the German trials. My Father saw action in Korea. I am very proud of this family heritage and I am very proud of and extremely supportive of any American Troops. I do not like feeling as if they are being used to risk their lives under the notion of protecting our Country if they are not truly attacking a enemy that poses a threat. No, I haven't forgotten about the Twin Tower attack. However, I do not believe that Iraq had anything to do with that. I am starting to think that our leaders mislead us into attacking Iraq for oil. Period.

I had heard this notion of a war for oil when our leaders first started to say that we may be going to Iraq. Many people brought this point up and I was one on the other side who defended their decision as a necessary act of war to protect us. I now believe that I was lied to and I further believe that oil was/is the reason we are there now. I think our brave young men and women should be brought home and used for the purpose for which they signed up for in the beginning: To Protect Our Country from Threats. I do not believe that Iraq poses us any threat. Their street bombs and road side attacks only kill our brave soldiers if our soldiers are driving in the streets of Iraq.

Hmmm, so I started out complaining about gas prices and I went off on the war with Iraq. I didn't know I was going to go in that direction but it happened. So perhaps it is time that the government steps in and governs the oil companies. They have done it wil other things such a telephones and then when the companies decided to play nice the government deregulated the market and free enterprise and choice was once again available to us. Lets have the government take over the oil companies, regulate them, get gas prices down to where they need to be and move on.

I know, you want to tell me that a thimble full of gas in the UK costs $3 and we should be happy to "only" pay $4 a gallon. You know what, I really don't care what gas prices are in other countries. They are NOT comparable to us. We drive larger machines, we drive independently and do not use mass transit like other countries do. We are just not set up that way. It is NOT the American way. We do not live in huts build by our employers - we do not walk or ride bikes to work (some of us do I know) - we do not sit at home - we venture out and see what this country of ours has to offer. We DRIVE! We VISIT! We LIVE!

Global Economy: Perhaps the worst thing to ever happen to our business environment. Who's idea was this mess? Now, we check our children for lead poisoning. Lead Poisoning? Are you kidding me! Didn't we learn about the dangers of lead thirty years ago in this country? The buyers for these toy companies should be brought up on charges of negligence for bringing lead painted toys into this country for our kids to play with. Don't think it is a serious issue? Well, my two year old is now ordered by our government to be tested for lead poisoning every six months. Lead poisoning? Lead Poisoning! My 16 year old never had to do this, why now? (Yes, some of you may be frightened to know that I reproduce every 14 years)

It is because some of our leaders, pronounced "lead-ers" (clever eh?) now know how big of an issue this is. Product packaging on most toys made in China now reads, "MUST wash before using". Well thats nice to know. Boxes being packaged full of children's toys from third world countries probably carry some very interesting germs. Some guy unpacks these boxes at Large-Mart and puts them on the shelf for Mr. Consumer to touch and for little Sue to play with. Mr. Consumer touches a drinking fountain, elevator button, door knob and those items are now infected with whatever Mr. Third World Packer generously and probably unknowingly placed in the box for us. Don't argue it isn't happening because it is. Been sick lately? How about your neighbor? There is no immune system for this in us because we have not been exposed to it before. No, I am not a doctor but I play one on my blog.

So where does this leave us? All of our jobs are gone - our gas prices are too high - and we now have things such as lead paint back on our childrens toys. Oh yea, it's 1974! It makes me wonder what else is lurking out there now that we have invited into our country? Maybe in 20 years we will just pee in a ditch, live in a hut on our employers lot and die at the ripe old age of 39. Global economy - bringing third world countries up to us or us down to them?

There are a lot of opinions on these topics and it is about time they were discussed. The forum is open. (But not as open as our borders so keep it clean please)

Reamers: More than you ever wanted to know.

Reamer can simply be defined as: Any tool used to smooth, enlarge or accurately size an existing hole.

Reamer Design: Most reamers are made up of three parts:
1. Angle of chamfer. This is the part of the reamer that does all of the cutting. The flutes allow oil to reach the cutting area and also allow for chips to be removed.
2. The Body. The body is made up of flutes and lands. The land is the area between each flute. On top of each land is a margin which runs from the angle of the chamfer to the back end of the flute. Body clearance angle is the relief in the back of the margin.
3. The Shank. This is the driving end of the reamer and is the end that fits into the holder on your machine. Reamers are available with straight or tapered shanks.

Reamers can have straight or spiral flutes. Spiral flutes allow for chips to be pulled up and out of the hole and are therefore ideal to use in blind holes. While the majority of reamers are right hand cut, they can be right or left hand spiral. Let me explain the difference:

Right Hand Spiral / Right Hand Cut:
- chips flow up the flutes and out of the top.
- suitable for blind holes

Left Hand Spiral / Right Hand Cut:
- chips flow in the direction of the feed
- typically used for through holes
- preferred method for interrupted holes

High Spiral Flute:
- typically used for soft and gummy materials
- usually allow for faster speeds and feeds

Application and Use of Reamers:

It is always best to leave as little stock as possible for the reamer to cut. How much? Well here is a good guideline for you.

Stock Removal for Machine Reaming:
To 3/32" .003 - .006
Above 3/32" to 1/4" .008 - .010
Above 1/4" to 1/2" .012 - .015
Above 1/2" to 1" .017 - .020
Above 1" to 2" .020 - .025
Above 2" .030 - .035

Stock Removal for Hand Reaming:
All sizes .002 - .004

A reamers must be in proper alignment with the hole to be reamed. This means the spindle and hole to be reamed must be in proper centerline alignment in order to assure that the hole produced is straight and well machined. Proper alignment will also prolong tool life. A sure sign of misalignment is oversized holes, egg-shaped holes and bell-shaped holes.

How many different types of reamers are there? Many. Here they are with quick definition.

Hand Reamers:
Basically a finishing tool it should never be used under mechanical power. It is not advisable to leave more than .005" stock to be removed for hand reaming.

Taper Pin Reamers:
Used to ream holes to suit taper pins. Makes sense right? typically you will want to predrill the hole with a tapered drill.

Taper Pipe Reamers:
Ok, getting basic here but these are typically used to ream holes to suit tapered pipe taps. You should also use a tapered drill to generate this hole.

Taper Shank Jobber:
Longer flute length compared to standard reamers.

Speeds and Feeds can be found on the www.toolinghouse.com website under Technical Sheets. As always you can contact us at anytime with tooling questions or concerns.

At www.toolinghouse.com we are pleased to offer one of the largest selections of Reamers in HSS, Cobalt and Solid Carbide. US Made.

Coatings: Benefits and Uses

Coatings remain one of the most misunderstood elements of cutting tools. Sometimes viewed as another method by which manufacturers sneak a few more bucks out of their customers the benefits are often snubbed by end users. But maybe there is something to these coatings. Lets take a closer look.

There are many coatings available for end mills and other cutting tools and this may be one of the reasons coatings are so misunderstood. The biggest benefit to coatings is that they reduce friction and keep the tool cooler. The result is longer lasting tools and typically better surface finish. Here is a list of the most popular: Titanium Nitride, Titanium Carbo Nitride, Zirconium Nitride, Titanium Aluminum Nitride, Aluminum Titanium Nitride and Diamond Coating. I'll discuss the most popular of these.

Titanium Nitride (TiN) - Known on the Toolinghouse website as coating suffix -01. TiN consists of a very hard coating on the surface of the tool. It has outstanding resistance to wear as it reduces friction and prevents galling. Technically speaking Titanium Nitride is a PVD process with an approximate hardness of 2400HV, Rc86.

Titanium Carbo Nitride (TiCN) - Known on the Toolinghouse website as coating suffix -02. TiCN consists of an extremely hard coating on the surface of the tool. It also has outstanding resistance to wear and reduces friction and prevents galling. Titanium Carbo Nitride is a PVD process with an approximate hardness of 3000HV, Rc94.

Titanium Aluminum Nitride (TiALN) - Known on the Toolinghouse website as coating suffix -04. TiALN consists of an extremely hard coating on the surface of the tool. It has outstanding resistance to wear and reduces friction and prevents galling. TiALN forms an aluminum oxide layer at high speeds and elevated temperatures. Titanium Aluminum Nitride is a PVD process with an approximate hardness of 2600HV, Rc89. Simply stated: TiALN needs heat to work properly.

I highly recommend the use of coatings on carbide end mills. I won't say that it is a waste to use an uncoated sub-micrograin carbide end mill because sometimes it is all you need but the benefits of using one with the proper coating are self-evident. This holds true especially in hard materials or fast speeds where heat is being generated. Notice our QuickKut VH Series End Mills that are specifically designed to machine tough materials are only offered coated. I won't sell one uncoated. In fact, as I typically do, here is another anouncement that you will hear first on the blog. We have designed a new coating that we call 1122 (pronounced eleven-twenty-two) for our VH Series End Mills. It will be available soon and I'll give you more details about it later. I will say that in tests we have seen increased tool life of 50%-400% with this coating.

So, ultimately it is your choice as to whether you use a coated or uncoated carbide end mill. If you are not generating heat through the cutting of hard materials or with high speeds and feeds you can probably get away with uncoated. But for most CNC applications and definately those applications with hard materials (Titanium - Stainless and similar) try a TiALN coated end mill. Soon you'll be able to try our new exclusive 1122 coating.

QuickKut VH Series End Mills

You heard it here first - all of our Variable Helix (VH) Series High Performance End Mills will soon be sold under our trademarked name of QuickKut. More exactly they will be called "QuickKut - VH". Same high performance VH Series you've come to trust to machine tough alloys such as titanium, inconel and stainless steel but now with a new name.

The Aerospace Industry has always loved our VH Series End Mills. Why? Simply put, there is no better end mill to machine those tough materials. The variable helix allows for faster and cleaner chip evacuation. (Remember my blog about chip evacuation? - If not, scroll down it's there)

What else does a QuickKut VH Series End Mill offer you?

Less chatter.

Prolonged tool life.

And as I said, flat out more aggressive machining of stainless steels, inconels, titanium and other hard to machine alloys.

As you know all of our end mills are produced on 29 ANCA 5-Axis machines right here in Michigan. Ooops, did I say 29? Well, make that 33. Yes, four more ANCA 5-Axis babies have just been added to churn out more of the end mills you love so much. Five of these 5-axis Centers are completely focused on producing special end mills. You did know that we made specials right? Hmmm, maybe I should add this little tidbit to the toolinghouse website. Does anyone say "Tidbit" anymore? Aging myself again. Anyway, back to the VH Tools.

Our unique VH Design, built in radius coupled with the TiALN coating offers you an end mill that is an absolute machining animal. Something else too: QuickKut VH Series End Mills offer LONGER LENGTHS OF CUT - Standard! That's right, the LOC on our VH End Mills is longer than the competitions. For example: What does the competitions 1/2" "Carb" End Mill got for a LOC about 1", right? Our 1/2" VH Series End Mill has a 1-1/4" LOC - Standard.

Our VH end mills cost up to 40% less to purchase versus those "Carb" Tools. I like saying that and the best part is that it's true. Test me on this. Run our QuickKut VH Series End Mill heads up against any other. When you see the savings and the machining results, I'll have a new customer and you'll have a bigger bank account. Win-Win.

Ok, so I've sung the praises on this wonderful end mill design that we have here at toolinghouse called the QuickKut VH Series. So what, right? I mean we all know that nearly every manufacturer offers some type of special end mill for these tough to machine materials, right? Ask yourself this: How many of them can say that they have customers who crank the speed and feed and simply watch the load meter? Think about that. Toolinghouse has customers who are doing this with the VH End Mills. It's our unique design. I'm not saying that everyone can nor do I really recommend that this be done but it is a fact that some are doing it.

Remember what I said earlier about our unique design and superior chip evacuation? Yup, this is where it comes into play. Faster and cleaner chip evacuation. It keeps the tool cooler because our design releases the heat into the chip. Ok, so what about finish. You know I knew what you were thinking... Our VH Series End Mills can be used for roughing or finishing and you will be amazed at the finish these tools will give you.

Oh by the way, we offer quantity breaks and we offer resharpening of the VH Tools too. Great Tools - Great Prices. Hmmm, now where have I heard that before?

If you are machining these types of materials please try our VH End Mills. I guarantee your satisfaction. Log onto www.toolinghouse.com for more info.